No Modi-Sharif meeting in New York, says Basit

Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit said no meeting has been finalised between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif in US next month.

"No meeting has been finalised between Indian PM Modi and Nawaz Sharif in New York," said Basit at a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The two leaders were slated to hold bilateral dialogue in September on the sidelines of the United Natios General Assembly.

Basit's statement came two days after India cancelled the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan scheduled on August 25, the first since the beheading of an Indian soldier along the Line of Control froze relations between the two nations.

Earlier, India had called off the meeting in Islamabad between Sujatha Singh and her Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry after Basit, ignoring New Delhi's protest, met a senior Kashmiri separatist leader in New Delhi. Basit continued that defiance on Tuesday when he met two more Hurriyat leaders.

A number of ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control in the last few days has also damaged relations between the two neighbours. Basit said India has also violated the ceasefire 57 times since July.

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